Pacific NW

[cebbigh]

Wanted to get a feel for what people out here are thinking. Between E11 going to 110 and Ceil2 launching in November to replace E5 at 129 things have to be looking up.

I'd imagine existing subs wouldn't need to make changes. But I'm hoping one dish would be all that's needed once E5 is replaced.

 

[levibluewa]

I would guess...

that if the 129 wasn't such a hunk-o-junk requiring a separate dish that a or 1000+, if you wanted internationals, or a 1000.2 (110/119/129) would be the single dish options.

 

[cebbigh]

If that launch is successful Dish will have eliminated the reasons I left to begin with. Between the 622/722 and HD only packs I will probably move back. DTV has been a better choice up until now because of the E5 issues. But aside from my frustrations over E5 and them taking so long to get the retrans for KCPQ-HD I was pretty happy with Dish.

I hope there aren't any significant PQ issues involved with Dish. As long as MPEG4 looks as good as it did when I left last October I'd be happy.

 

[levibluewa]

I agree. 7 or 8 years with DISH sd and no problems. I kept minimal DISH for the Superstation package, and Euronews. Originally I had the Family Pack which did absolutely nothing for me then switched to DISH HD Absolute before the cut-off. I tried watching a program on 129 last night and it was the worst ever. Out of the 60 minutes, the signal was lost for at least 30 minutes here and there. It was a different situation, not the 2x an hour loss, but 4-6 times the signal would freeze and drop out.

I thought the sat was going to crash in the back yard. I went checking for storms, seeking a cause and found a line of thunderstorms east of Wyoming. I'm not certain if that is an uplink site for the 129...I'm sure someone here in this forum knows. Guess I'll know tonight if that could have been the cause.

 

[M Sparks]

What's the problem? I'm hopefully moving to Oregon soon.

No problems with 129 down in Arizona, and I'm even running a non-supported configuration. (119/129 on a DISH 500...I've got 110 on a separate dish due to tree issues.)

I'm hoping to move to a FIOS area, but if not, I was going to stick with Dish. Maybe not, if it's that bad.

 

[levibluewa]

Until Seal 2 is up and running, yes it can be that bad. Oregon is better than WA, but. New sat is suppose to launch Dec. 3, operational what...60 days later, give or take. Then we should all be OK again, or for the 1st time

 

[RandallA]

"What's the problem?"

The problem is that the signal off 129 in the PNW is very low. So whenever it rains or the wind blows, you'll lose signal. You must have a second dish for 129 in the West coast, the bigger the better. Of course all of this will hopefully go away with Ciel 2.

 

[long_time_DNC]

With the 26" dish I have pointing at 129, I don't lose signal as often, but still occasionally get drops. With fall/winter weather on the way, I expect more drop-outs to happen on the channels coming from 129...

 

[GRG]

Probably due to our good weather this summer I have experienced very few dropouts on 129 than I have in the past. My dish 1000 has been up since it was first offered and I've only had to repeak it once. I'm anxiously awaiting the new bird myself, but haven't been impacted enough to put up another dish. (I'm inside the city limits of Seattle).

 

[long_time_DNC]

I had to put up a 26" dish just for 129 as everything from 129 was practically unwatchable with just the 1000, and I have a clear view to 110/119/129. Repeaking the 1000 was of no help at all, so you must be doing something right, GRG...

 

[cebbigh]

What's the problem? I'm hopefully moving to Oregon soon.

No problems with 129 down in Arizona, and I'm even running a non-supported configuration. (119/129 on a DISH 500...I've got 110 on a separate dish due to tree issues.)

I'm hoping to move to a FIOS area, but if not, I was going to stick with Dish. Maybe not, if it's that bad.

My area has been Fios for a few weeks now. Only reason I'm not going to them is the DVR. The hard drive's too small given that they are MPEG2 with no compression. Plus I understand that you can't remote control 2 boxes connected to the same TV independent of each other.

It may sound stupid but the thing I like best about the Dish DVRs is you can lock out channels and forget they exist. No having to deal with PPV or premium channels you don't subscribe too. I'm sure DTV could do that easily enough with their DVR's but some idiot in marketing wants subs to see all the channels because it might lead them to upgrade or buy PPV.

Being able to build 4 of your own favorites lists is great too. DTV limits you to two. You can use their matrix of categories, but the problem with that is that they do a really sloppy job of matching channels to categories. For example, they think Chiller fits with movies but HDMovies doesn't.

I'd go back to Dish now if I was 100% certain of the Ceil2 launch. But I keep telling myself to hold off until it's up and working. It seems ironic but I think with all the fuss over Eastern Arc that we will be better off out here when all is said and done.

 

[pdxsam]

It may sound stupid but the thing I like best about the Dish DVRs is you can lock out channels and forget they exist. No having to deal with PPV or premium channels you don't subscribe too. I'm sure DTV could do that easily enough with their DVR's but some idiot in marketing wants subs to see all the channels because it might lead them to upgrade or buy PPV.

I've done that with my DTV box just edited the favorites list and I don't see them anymore. I see just what channels I want to see... and the others don't exist.

 

[cebbigh]

Thanks guys for the updates on E5 problems. I thought I had read somewhere that they had decreased the problem by deciding to burn more fuel for adjustments.

When I left I had the Dish dishes removed from my chimney because the DTV installer said I needed a roof mount because the slimline is a big bulky dish. I actually like where they put it because you can't see it from the front yard and it's not obvious from the backyard. If I go back I'd like to just put a single dish into the existing mount.

 

[skihoodoo]

129

i cant wait till E5 gets replaces today it is raining (not pouring ) and my signal on tp11 is around 20 went as low as 18 for a little bit




my equipment
vip 722/ vip612/ 322
dish 1000+ -129 lnb / 24 inch dish at 129
dpp44 switch

 

[long_time_DNC]

It was pouring here around 4pm and my signal on tp11 went down to 5 for about 30 seconds. Most of the 129 HD was out or very unstable during the down-pour.

Yep, Ceil2 sure will be nice...

 

[cebbigh]

I've done that with my DTV box just edited the favorites list and I don't see them anymore. I see just what channels I want to see... and the others don't exist.

What you say is pretty accurate except when it comes to searches. For instance I could have NO premium channels on Dish and still get a boatload of HD movies just searching on the channels I care about on dish. Searching for movies I care about on DTV is a big convoluted mess even with the Boolean strings. I don't care to wade through a bunch of stuff I don't subscribe to. But some marketing idiot at DTV wants to waste my time sorting through it in hopes that I'll upgrade.